Looks like Leesa Clark Stone’s book on her late husband, comedian Rap Reiplinger, won’t be under your Christmas tree this holiday season.
“I was hoping to have the book ready by Christmas but am beginning to think that’s not practical, as I still have a couple of interviews to do,” Stone said in an email. “So it may be after the first of the year.”
She’s latched onto new interviews to gain more perspective on the life and times of the late Booga Booga comedian, writer, actor and singer, who died Jan. 19, 1984, at age 34. The two were wed less than three months earlier, on Oct. 23, 1983.
“I feel the pressure. … I am writing furiously,” she said.
Her latest interviewee is Ron Nakahara, a local actor based in New York for nearly four decades, who worked alongside Reiplinger and his Booga Booga collaborators James Grant Benton and Ed Kaahea.
“Ron has a fantastic memory and gave me several interesting anecdotes for the book,” said Stone.
Nakahara was in Benton’s “Twelf Nite O Wateva,” a pidgin take on Shakespeare originally directed by Terence Knapp at the University of Hawaii. He’s had numerous TV credits (“Law and Order,” “Law and Order: SVU,” “House of Cards”) and currently appears as Hirochi in Netflix’s “Daredevil.” He just completed “Isn’t It Romantic,” a film starring Rebel Wilson. …
FYI, Hawaiian Mission Houses has revived “Twelf Nite” in a wee version of “Shakespeare in the Park,” with outdoor performances at 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Aug. 26 at its King Street site. …
NAME-DROPPING
Auli‘i Cravalho, the voice of Disney’s “Moana,” has been tapped as the new face of Wallflower Jeans, manufacturer of junior and teen-targeted sportswear. “Affordable, cute, well-made clothing isn’t the easiest thing to find,” she said in a release. Her isle fans might be challenged to find the fashions here, because stores like Kohl’s (not in this market) were selling them initially. …
Kathleen Stuart, who played Anna Leonowens when the late Ron Bright directed “The King and I” at Castle High School, will return to Honolulu to revive the role when the I’m A Bright Kid Foundation stages the Rodgers and Hammerstein evergreen Fridays through Sundays Sept. 8 through Oct. 1 at Paliku Theatre at Windward Community College. Stuart studied musical theater in England after leaving home and now does occasional gigs in New York.
Michael Ng, Kaimuki High School drama instructor with local and mainland creds, will play the King of Siam, but a string of Bright ohana may steal the limelight. Ron and Mo Bright’s daughter, Jodi Bright Stein, and her 5-year-year daughter, Mia, are in the cast, along with son Michael Bright’s two younger sons Drew and Colton, playing the king’s children.
Further, Bright Kid Foundation president Dr. Ligaya Stice, a previous Castle star, returns to the spotlight as a wife and dancer, with Allison Chu as Tuptim and George Benavides as Lun Tha, the young lovers.
Mary Hicks directs, Clarke Bright conducts the orchestra and Andrew Sakaguchi choreographs. Tickets: 235-4253 or imabrightkid.org/tickets. …
FOR THE LOVE OF JIMMY
Kudos to Shari Lynn, Loretta Ables Sayre, Kip Wilborn and Willie K for a memorable salute to the late Jimmy Borges on July 30, when the Blue Note Hawaii installed a table template bearing the gent of jazz’s name.
When Charles Mukaida, first recipient of the Borges music scholarship, took the stage to sing, there was buzz in the audience; he so resembled Borges in the early years of his career. And what a voice! A grand choice. See my Facebook page for more. …
And that’s “Show Biz.” …
Wayne Harada is a veteran Honolulu entertainment columnist. Reach him at 266-0926 or email wayneharada@gmail.com.
